India’s Ganges River is among the holiest places on Earth, but it’s also one of the most polluted.

India’s Ganges River is among the holiest places on Earth, but it’s also one of the most polluted.

Over the years the country’s officials have taken measures to make the sacred waters both cleaner and safer, and among them was breeding and releasing 25 thousand carnivorous turtles.

It was hoped that the animals would help rid the river of the many, many corpses it holds.

Part of the death ritual outlined by the Hindu faith involves the cremation of the deceased and the scattering of their ashes into the waterway.

For many, the cost of reducing a body to ash is prohibitive, so they do the best they can, and often times corpses rather than incinerated remains end up in the waters.

Turtles once helped along the natural decaying process, but their numbers dwindled significantly over the years.

In an attempt to turn the problem around, in the 80s, India spent over 30 million dollars to have the thousands of special, flesh-eating ones farmed and introduced.

Not only was the program overall marred by corruption, due to poor follow-up the turtles ended up being poached in mass numbers.

Since, the practice of releasing turtles, now just regular ones, has continued, but appears to have made little impact on the problems that plague the Ganges.